CDC urges hepatitis C test for all baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965
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(CBS/AP) All adults born between 1945 and 1965 should get a blood test to see if they have hepatitis C, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in draft recommendations issued Friday.
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Baby boomers account for 2 million of the 3.2 million Americans infected with the blood-borne liver-destroying virus. CDC officials believe the new measure could lead 800,000 more boomers to get treatment and could save more than 120,000 lives.
"The CDC views hepatitis C as an unrecognized health crisis for the country, and we believe the time is now for a bold response," said Dr. John W. Ward, the CDC's hepatitis chief.
Several developments drove the CDC's push for wider testing, he said. Recent data has shown that from 1999 and 2007, there was a 50 percent increase in the number of Americans dying from hepatitis C-related diseases. Also, two drugs hit the market last year that promise to cure many more people than was previously possible.
The hepatitis C virus is most commonly spread today through sharing needles to inject drugs. Before widespread screening of blood donations began in 1992, it was also spread through blood transfusions.
Health officials believe hundreds of thousands of new hepatitis C infections were occurring each year in the 1970s and 1980s, most of them in the younger adults of the era - the baby boomers. The hepatitis C virus was first identified in 1989.
Today, about 17,000 infections occur annually, according to CDC estimates. The virus can gradually scar the liver and lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer. It is the leading cause of liver transplants.
About 3 percent of baby boomers test positive for the virus, the CDC estimates.
The agency's current guidelines recommend testing people known to be at high risk, including current and past injection drug users.
The new testing recommendation is expected to become final later this year.
Hepatitis C can either be "acute," which is short-term and occurs within 6 months of exposure to the virus, or "chronic," which can cause long-term health problems or even death. Approximately 75 percent to 85 percent of people who become infected with Hepatitis C virus develop chronic infection, and most people infected do not show any symptoms. There is no vaccine for Hepatitis C - the best way to prevent it is by avoiding behaviors that can spread the disease, especially injection drug use.
The CDC has more on hepatitis C.
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Something's not clear here.
You have one side of the Govt., wanting to slash retirement benefits and Medicare and Medicaid and basically divest themselves of having to pay anyone anything when they get old.
Then you have the CDC people so far out in left field they want to test every single baby boomer for Hep C. Why? So the other side of the Govt can say, Yup, you got Hep C. Good luck with that, we are taking away your benefits. There's the door loser. Thanks for stopping by.
Many young people have anal sex nowadays and some even consider themselves virgins though they have anal sex. This sexual activity causes bleeding which can transmit Hep C as well as HIV.
These two sexual activities are considered very high risk. NEVER HAVE SEX WHEN A WOMAN IS ON HER PERIOD!!
HCV is spread through percutaneous exposure. It is not a sexually transmitted disease! If anal sex is performed the infection can only potentially be spread if there is a ripe in the anus as well as the ***** penitrating the anus allowing the infection to spread into the blood stream of an uninfected host. There is very little documentation related to this topic as a mode of transmission of the infection. There is far more literature on the infection spreading through unsterilized needles used in tattooing and body piercing, not to mention clusters of infection in medical facilities i.e. Fremont, Nebraska and Las Vegas, Nevada to mention only two of hundreds. The number one mode of transmission was the blood supply! The CDC has been negligent in its response to an infection 10 times bigger than HIV/AIDS and far more easily spread than HIV/AIDS. Another correction to the CDC's statement which is very misleading to the public, THERE IS NO CURE! Only drug companies wanting to sell a very expensive treatment. CDC and the drug companies are in bed together and the infected population is being mislead!
Most of us have heard about tattoo equipment. Then there's improperly sterilized medical equipment.. it's happened even w/the VA hospital system. Fishing hooks, rough hair brushing, nail clippers, and here's one that made me worry that I haven't seen mentioned.. dental flossing. I thought I was so cool getting us both into good dental flossing habits.. fortunately, I test fine.
No they (we) will just die of something else.... OH wait lets test them for that too, save their life again!!! Oh No they are going to do of yet something else again... AHH MORE TESTING!!!! For Everything!!! That is it!! we will test for everything, and then everyone will get treated, and then everyone will live forever!!!
So just where does this silly train stop?
So the cost is 1.035 BILLION 1,035,000,000.
Are we sure, that we need to test EVERYONE - even those w/ no signs or risk factors i.e. virgin, no drug using, never been in surgery types?
how many $$ and deaths are going to be avoided by this?
That means 97% of the baby boomer tests were/are negative for Hepatitis C.
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a billion dollars is just 5% of what the dod spends each year for air conditioning for the troops in iraq and afghanistan ... a total of $20 billion a year.
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137414737/among-the-costs-of-war-20b-in-air-conditioning?ps=cprs